Second drug officer necessary for city

In fact, Chief Gary Jepsen told Marshfield's City Council members this week, "I believe this position is the highest priority within the department."

Jepsen said the department's only drug enforcement officer has much more work than one person can handle.

The officer must focus on priority cases, so lesser offenses and intelligence and information gathering aren't given the same attention, Jepsen said.

"Essentially, what that means is that being unable to work on those cases, more and more drugs are coming into the community," he said.

Later, Jepsen elaborated for News-Herald Media.

"Should someone have asked the question about drugs in our schools and accessible to our children, I could have told them that recently we arrested a dealer in high school," Jepsen said in an email.

The dealer's phone records showed more than 300 texts during the past two weeks and more than 40 percent were to arrange drug transactions, Jepsen said.

"There are those on the common council that can tell you that they have had conversations with straight-A students who have said that they have the ability of knowing how to buy any type of drugs they want and from whom at any time if they chose to do so," Jepsen wrote.

In order to address the need, police are seeking a federal grant from U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services program to partially fund a second drug officer for four years. The Marshfield City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to approve the application. The department will learn later this summer if it will receive the grant.

If approved, the city's portion would cost about $213,000 with the federal government contributing $125,000.

Two council members were worried about covering the city's portion of the cost. With tighter budgets all around, it's a legitimate concern.

But that must be weighed against an increase in violent crime related to drugs in the city since 2010.

"Last year, we investigated four homicides and three were related to drugs. That's not something we're accustomed to," Jepsen told council members.

Seeking the grant to help pay for this position now will help police better enforce laws and dig deeper into all aspects of drug crimes. At the end of the grant term, the city and police should be able to decide if the officer position can be continued or if other changes need to be made to pay for it. A lot can happen in four years. The city needs a second drug officer.